Voters register and voting system major challenges for Chebukati

With about six months to prepare to oversee yet another high-stakes Kenyan General Election, the team led by Wafula Chebukati is faced with two major tasks: preparing the register of voters and getting together the Kenya Integrated Election Management System.

The new-look Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) team is expected to take office this week after President Uhuru Kenyatta formally appointed them.

The Chebukati-led team comes to office about seven months after the Opposition held protests against the outgoing one led by Ahmed Issack Hassan on the basis that it handled the 2013 General Election incompetently.

Mr Chebukati’s team will have about six months to prepare for the big job.

Preparing the register is under way, with the last phase of mass voter registration before the August 8 elections having been launched on Monday and going on until February 14.

An audit of the register has, however, been stopped after the Opposition challenged the contract awarded to KPMG.

Procurement of the system to manage the election was delayed in the initial stages after a company challenged the specifications given by the commission.

WITHDRAW APPLICATIONS

On Tuesday, the Public Procurement Administrative Review allowed companies that had challenged the legality of the procurement to withdraw their applications.

“The (IEBC) is at liberty to proceed with the procurement process,” the review board ruled, paving the way for the new team to start work as the secretariat goes ahead to buy devices for identifying voters and others for transmitting results.

Led by chief executive Ezra Chiloba, the IEBC has already awarded the contract for the printing of ballot papers for the elections.

To avoid cases, as in the past, where commissioners were seen as interfering with the day-to-day running of the IEBC, the law was changed to specify their role and that of the secretariat.

The chairman and members of the commission “shall be responsible for the formulation of policy and strategy of the commission and oversight”, states the law.

The commissioners are Consolata Nkatha Bucha Maina, Boya Molu, Roselyn Kwamboka Akombe, Paul Kibiwott Kurgat, Margaret Wanjala Mwachanya and Abdi Guliye.

All that remains is for the new commissioners to be sworn into office.

DIGNIFIED EXIT

Mr Hassan and his team will hand over to the new team to ensure there is no vacuum at the top of the IEBC. Part of the agreement to ensure a dignified exit for Mr Hassan’s team was payment of their dues.

President Kenyatta met the outgoing commissioners Wednesday morning before State House announced in the evening that he had appointed the new team.

He acted speedily, making the appointment barely 24 hours after the National Assembly approved the nomination of the leaner commission. He had forwarded the seven names to Parliament for vetting and approval on December 29.

“His Excellency the President congratulated the new IEBC officials and expressed confidence that they will deliver their mandate to the expectation of Kenyans,” State House spokesman Manoah Esipisu said Wednesday evening.

However, lawyer Apollo Mboya’s case challenging the legality of their recruitment is yet to be determined.

Mr Mboya was one of the rapporteurs appointed by the Opposition to the joint select committee that came up with the agreement through which Mr Hassan’s team would leave office and another recruited.

The committee also drafted the law that resulted in a reduction of the size of the IEBC from nine to seven commissioners and made changes to electoral laws seen as important to ensure a credible election.  

President Kenyatta nominated and forwarded the seven names to Parliament for vetting and approval as required by law on December 29 2016.